


Contact

by Stariceling



Category: Naruto
Genre: Community: 12daysofxxxmas, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-22
Updated: 2007-12-22
Packaged: 2017-12-05 19:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a distance, Lee's training looks like he's dancing. Gaara wants to join in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Contact

Gaara liked to watch Lee dancing.

It wasn’t dancing, not really, but the way he moved made it seem that way. There were moments when Lee looked like he was moving with the wind, to a beat that no one else could hear. He called it ‘training,’ but it always looked to Gaara like dancing.

Today Lee had a partner in his dance. He and Neji circled, met, and separated in an ever-changing pattern. They might have memorized every step and gesture beforehand, they moved so fluidly.

Gaara had his neck craned in an uncomfortable position, trying to keep his eyes on the two below his office window without turning away from his work completely. He had been watching Lee like this for three days, just in little snatches and glances when he stopped to look up. It had seemed the right thing to do to offer his hospitality to Lee’s cell (or rather, Gai’s team, but Lee always seemed to spring to mind first) when a mission brought them close to Suna. It was good to be in the presence of friends and allies.

Now Gaara found himself watching Lee periodically, just because he was there. He hadn’t put much thought into the habit until this moment, as he watched Lee move in sync with Neji. The way Lee fought was so different from his own methods. It was all contact, close and personal. Gaara was even more aware of that watching Lee with another person.

Giving up the pretense of work for a moment, Gaara finally rose from his chair and moved to look out the window properly. The more he watched, the more he wanted to be the one dancing with Lee. It didn’t make sense, because his own fighting style was so perfectly honed to be different from Lee’s up-close-and-personal tajutsu. He couldn’t interact with Lee the way Neji did. It didn’t make sense to want to join in Lee’s dance, to move in sync with Lee and touch him.

That was what drew Gaara’s attention. The two of them traded quick blows as they sparred, but from this distance it looked more like mere touches, even with the intensity in Lee’s stance. Gaara knew they were sparring, fighting. He knew it but he couldn’t shake the idea of touching Lee in a way that would never make him pause in his graceful movements.

Even as he watched they finally faltered and slowed. One of Lee’s arms hung limp at his side, and Neji moved to place his hands on it. They traded words that Gaara couldn’t hear, standing still and serious together.

Gaara thought of leaving the window and returning to work. There was nothing to watch now but Neji’s pale hands outlined by that green jumpsuit, and the surprising glint of sunlight that betrayed Lee’s smile. The dance was over, but instead of turning away, Gaara gathered his sand about him and slipped directly out the open window.

He didn’t bother with stealth when he swept across the training field, directly to where Lee stood. They both looked up at him, startled. Neji was still touching Lee’s shoulder, massaging it absentmindedly with his fingers.

“Gaara-kun!” Lee greeted him cheerfully.

“Kazekage-sama,” Neji added in a low voice, correcting his teammate.

Gaara didn’t mind the familiar way Lee addressed him. He had other things on his mind at the moment. “Lee, your arm. What happened to it?”

“It’s fine!” Lee grinned and flexed his arm to prove it. “Neji was just helping me.” Gaara expected that Neji had caused whatever damage he had just fixed, with one of his ‘mere touches,’ but that didn’t matter now.

“Is there something you wanted?” Lee asked, then, getting a significant look from Neji he quickly added, “Kazekage-sama.”

Gaara considered. There was something he wanted that he couldn’t quite name, but perhaps he would think of a word for it, this close to Lee. “I want to talk to you.” He eyes settled on Neji for a moment, thinking about how his movements complimented Lee’s during their dance. Obviously they were close, they were teammates. That was akin to being siblings. However, Gaara had no particular interest in Neji beyond that. “Just you,” he added, transferring his attention back to Lee.

Neji gave Lee a severe look and squeezed his shoulder before letting him go at last. “Excuse me,” he said, as if it was his idea to leave. Gaara watched him leave the training area, getting the feeling that Neji was still keeping an eye on the two of them, even without turning his head.

“Is there something I could do for you? Or would you like a practice match!? I have some new techniques I would like you to see, Gaa-. . . Kazekage-sama.” Lee’s energy didn’t falter for a moment, even when he had to correct himself. Gaara’s attention was successfully diverted from the question of whether Neji was paranoid enough to be watching them.

“Come talk with me in the shade,” Gaara requested. Walking with Lee gave him a moment to think. He still wasn’t sure how to phrase his request, to join in Lee’s dance the way Neji could. To touch him and watch him and move with him all at the same time. He wasn’t sure they could spar as equals that way, and Lee would not enjoy it unless he could fight with all of his energy. Besides, Lee was still a little flushed from his efforts. It would be good for him to cool down a bit.

Lee followed Gaara into the shade, reaching up to rub absentmindedly at his shoulder. “Is there a message you would like me to take to the Hokage for you?” he suggested.

Gaara ignored the suggestion. He didn’t need Lee to run errands for him. Instead he fixed his eyes on Lee’s hand. “Does your arm hurt?”

“It’s nothing,” Lee assured him, “It’s just a little sore. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

Gaara drew his brows together in concentration and lay both hands on Lee’s shoulder. He tried to mimic the motions he had seen Neji’s fingers making to massage Lee. He couldn’t see the flow of Lee’s chakra, or manipulate it, and his efforts only seemed to be making Lee more tense.

“What are you doing?” Lee didn’t pull away, but he watched Gaara’s hands, eyes open wide, as if no one had ever touched him before. Gaara was sure he must be doing something wrong for Lee to stare like that.

“I thought I could help.” Gaara was about to take his hands away, when Lee caught them and held them to his shoulder.

“You’re close. Here, do you feel that?” Lee was pressing Gaara’s index finger into a specific point, and Gaara thought he could feel a small tense point there. “Okay, now you press over here with both of these fingers. Hold that. . . and release it.” Gaara watched as Lee manipulated his hand, fascinated.

Lee continued to teach him for a moment, moving Gaara’s hand to help him feel how his muscles were arranged under his skin. He showed Gaara where and hold long to press, until Gaara realized he could feel the hard knots Lee had showed him relaxing.

“You can do this for yourself, too,” Lee explained cheerfully.

Lee released Gaara’s hands, and Gaara painstakingly repeated the movements Lee had shown him. He thought he was more effective this time, not pressing too hard on Lee though the thin jumpsuit.

“Don’t you want to try it on yourself?” Lee asked. Gaara hadn’t realized he was supposed to. He looked at his own hands, cupped over Lee’s shoulder. The feeling of a warm, firm body under his hands was new, but not at all unpleasant. In fact, Gaara didn’t quite want to take his hands away.

“I wanted to touch you,” Gaara explained. He was waiting to find out if Lee would ask him to take his hands away. He didn’t want to. Not just yet.

“Oh.” Lee fidgeted. Gaara noticed his face was still flushed. In fact, Lee looked redder than he had before. “Kazeka-”

“You can call me by my name. I prefer it.” No one else was here to enforce that Lee be polite, and Gaara found he liked Lee calling him by his name. It wasn’t that he was particularly fond of the name itself, but he liked the feeling that Lee was talking to him and him alone. He didn’t want Lee to be distracted trying to remember to use his title properly.

“Gaara-kun,” Lee said, then paused. His face was bright red now, and Gaara started to contemplate the possibility of heat stroke. He was paying more attention to that than to Lee’s next words. “How long have you wanted to touch me?”

“Every time I look at you,” Gaara answered automatically. He had wanted to join in Lee’s dance before, watching him, but this was not the time for that. He reached up and lay his fingers against Lee’s cheek. He found the skin hot, as he had expected. “Are you all right?”

“Of course!” Lee caught Gaara’s hand and held it to his cheek. “I have never felt better! Gaara-kun, I am very happy you, well. . .” Lee didn’t elaborate, but gave Gaara a beatific smile and touched his mouth against Gaara’s in one quick motion.

Gaara felt an odd thrill go through his body at the quick touch. He didn’t have time to focus on his own reaction, even as Lee lay one hand against his cheek and made his pulse jump. Obviously Lee was suffering from heat stroke and had no idea what he was doing. Gaara needed to help him cool down as soon as possible.

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice it earlier,” he said, in unison with Lee. Gaara paused, because maybe Lee had already realized that he was suffering from heatstroke, and then Gaara wouldn’t have to drag him to the medical center by force and possibly make him worse.

“I wasn’t even aware of your feelings, Gaara-kun. I should have been more observant.” Lee rubbed their noses together playfully. “Please let me make it up to you.”

“Lee,” Gaara began in a low, firm voice, “Let me take you somewhere where you can cool off a little.” If that somewhere happened to be a bed in the medical center, better not to have Lee kick up a fuss over it before he was in reach of care. He certainly seemed energetic for someone who was senseless from heat shock.

“I don’t need to cool off.” Lee grabbed both of Gaara’s hands and held them to his chest. “The passionate flame of my youth burns for you alone, Gaara-kun! I’ll prove it to you!”

“Don’t.” Gaara commanded, alarmed. He touched the back of his hand to Lee’s cheek, and found it still hot. “Don’t overexert yourself.”

Lee frowned at the way Gaara was touching his face. “I don’t have a fever, Gaara-kun.”

“You’re overheated. I can carry you, but you need-”

“I don’t have heatstroke, either.”

“Your face is hot.” Gaara would have expected he didn’t have time to argue, but Lee was being relatively coherent, for all of his odd actions.

“I’m blushing. You are too!” Lee pointed out. Gaara’s face did feel oddly hot after what Lee had done, but he hadn’t had time to think about that.

“Why?”

“Because of your confession!” Lee stopped, blinked at Gaara a few times, then put his face in his hands. “It was a confession, wasn’t it?”

“What?” Gaara touched Lee again, and found his skin cool again. Lee didn’t seem to be overheating as badly as Gaara had feared, but he looked as if he felt ill.

“I thought you meant it as a love confession,” Lee muttered into his hands, but Gaara still heard him. Things slowly started to fall together when he heard the word love. That explained Lee’s behavior. At least, if that was the case, he wasn’t sick from the heat.

“Could that count as love?” Just saying he wanted to be close to Lee and touch him? That was only because Lee was special, because of the way he moved, and the way Gaara felt watching him.

Lee shook his head. “I am so sorry. I should not have assumed-”

“What about a kiss?” Because that was what Lee had given him. Gaara recognized the gesture now, knowing that Lee had made it on purpose.

Catching Gaara’s hands in his own, Lee looked up at him with burning intensity. “I am extremely sorry about the kiss, Gaara-kun. Please tell me what I can do to make up for it!”

“Tell me if a kiss counts as a love confession.” Gaara didn’t want to hear about how sorry Lee was, particularly when he hadn’t done anything that Gaara saw as harmful.

“It could. Unless you don’t want it to.” Lee was practically twitching, as if eager for Gaara to set him some impossible task in repentance.

“I want it to,” Gaara decided. He grabbed Lee by both shoulders this time and hauled him forward to kiss him firmly on the mouth. Lee was still against him with shock, even when Gaara pulled away to touch Lee’s face again, mimicking the hand Lee had laid on his cheek before.

“Gaara-kun. . .” Lee’s eyes shone, and he seemed to be in shock. “You didn’t have to-”

“I’m accepting your love confession.”

“My confession? But you just-”

“You kissed me first,” Gaara pointed out. Obviously that made it Lee’s confession, because while he might have confessed a bit of obsession, Gaara didn’t think he had admitted to love. How would he have known to? He certainly hadn’t placed the word love in relation to Lee just then.

“Okay.” Lee smiled and rubbed his nose against Gaara’s. Gaara hadn’t expected him to give in so easily, but. . . he expected in the end it didn’t matter.

“Do I only get to kiss you once?” Gaara wanted to know. Obviously a confession would only be made once, because after that the other person already knew. But Gaara still wanted to touch Lee more. He rubbed his fingers in circles on Lee’s cheek, thinking that if Lee said yes he was going to be very, very irritated with this whole love arrangement.

Lee leaned close, fingers dancing lightly across Gaara’s cheek. He didn’t say a word. Instead, he answered Gaara by kissing him again.


End file.
